On a day that was so sunny one of the umpires had to move his chair to the other side of the court half-way through the dual match, the Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Kansas State Wildcats yesterday in the Sunflower Showdown for the 40th time in school history. Kansas has only lost seven times in the schools’ all-time matchups.

The Jayhawks are now 4-5 in the Big 12 with an overall record of 9-10.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the team is in seventh place riding closely behind Nebraska and Texas Tech, which are both 4-4 in the conference.

The Jayhawks began the doubles round on a shaky note when the KU pair of sophomore Maria Martinez and freshman Erin Wilbert lost its match to the Wildcat’s Mariya Slupska and Natasha Viera.

However, the loss was balanced and eventually overcome by the doubles pairings of senior Edina Horvath and freshman Ekaterina Morozova, and senior Yuliana Svistun and junior Kuni Dorn when they won their matches 8-5 and 8-4, respectively.

The KU tennis team is now 6-0 in dual play when they win the doubles point.

“The score shows 5-2, but I don’t feel it was an easy win,” Horvath said. “We definitely had to win the doubles point to make it easier, but I feel like everyone played pretty good.”

Entering the singles round with a one-point advantage from the doubles round, the Jayhawks won four of six matches when Svistun, playing at the No. 3 spot, Martinez, Morozova and Wilbert all defeated their opponents in straight sets.

With the dual match already decided, Horvath, playing at the No. 1 position, and Dorn each took their matches to three-set tiebreakers; however, both players lost 10-7 in the third set.

Wilbert was the first to win her singles match, which has been a familiar sight at KU matches this season, but she warns not to read too much into it.

“Playing in the No. 6 position, just because I finish first, doesn’t necessarily mean anything. All the other girls are playing girls that are higher up in the lineup,” Wilbert said.

In general, the better players play at higher positions on the lineup, but all season Wilbert has shown that she deserves to be mentioned among Kansas’ better players.

“It feels good to be a freshman and to be winning,” Wilbert said. “I hope I can keep it up when I’m a sophomore.”

Horvath knows the difficulty of playing at the No. 1 position.

She has a record of 2-12 this season at that spot, playing some of the top-ranked players in the nation, and she has a season record of 3-2 at the No. 2 position.

“It’s so hard to play No. 1. It’s so tough,” Horvath said. “You have to compete for every single ball so hard. At No. 1 spot, no one is playing bad, so it’s really tough to win a set.

— — Edited by Chris Horn